Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
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Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear franchise, is an auteur. Playing something he’s made feels like tapping into his brain. His style is instantly recognizable to anyone who has played his games or witnessed the way he markets his work. They tend to have wildly over the top stories, a strict adherence to certain parts of reality and wanton disregard for others, a large focus on music, the specific type of visual bombast that could only be compared to that in anime, and an acute ability to subvert expectations.
This is the final entry in the Metal Gear Solid series. A claim that has been made many times by its established creator but now rings more true than ever. Kojima and Konami, the publishers of the game, were embroiled in deep arguments throughout the making of MGSV and it boiled over into the public eye months before the game was released. Konami all but fired Kojima and stripped him of his rights to the series. The reasons for these disagreements are unknown but the outcome seems crystal clear. Even if Konami continues to put out more “Metal Gear” games they will no longer be written and directed by Kojima who is the heart and soul of this series.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain stays within the confines of his oeuvre but also manages to change nearly everything about the series. It is like nothing he’s made but completely recognizable. If you have played a Metal Gear game before this will be a new experience. If not, it will still be like nothing you’ve seen in the medium.
It is, without a doubt, the most original big budget game ever made. It consistently does things I’ve never seen, has within it one of the most comprehensive sets of gameplay options I’ve ever witnessed, and a rebelliousness that could only be achieved through supreme understanding of the rules it breaks. I would venture to guess that we’re going to see ripples of the ideas put forth in MGSV for years to come.
Set in the 80’s, The Phantom Pain begins with Snake waking from a coma. He (obviously) wakes up and is tasked with forming his own secret division outside the government called the Diamond Dogs. It is a revenge tale, a statement on the corruption of power, an allegory for nuclear deterrence, and focuses heavily on the physical and emotion price of war. This is a complex game that approaches themes of war in a way that most games shy away from.
The story has some very strong moments but overall it is opaque and sparse. The goals are specific and you slowly roll your way towards them mission by mission but the whole thing feels ephemeral. Nothing is ever as it seems and as the player I felt like I was left in a state of confusion. Threads are left dangling, character intentions shift and then shift back, motivations are never explained, etc. Most games seem intent on spelling out their narratives with megaphones but this reveled in avoidance. I liked the restraint.
The real meat and potatoes of Metal Gear Solid 5 is the gameplay. This is predominantly a base capturing game. Snake is an infiltrator on a mission to build an army. You have specific goals within each base: extract a prisoner, find a skilled officer, gather intel, and so on. You can also go further and clear out the whole outpost, destroy their anti aircraft guns, destroy their communication, and all of this helps you out in the long run.
This would all be great on its own but Metal Gear adds a cavalcade of inventive ways to go about these objectives: inflatable decoy soldiers, cardboard boxes (with a surprising amount of uses), stun grenades, sleep grenades, grenade grenades, convoys, rocket launchers, missile launchers, rocket boosted arm projectiles, tranquilizer pistols, a lot of other extravagant and weird equipment, and the fulton extraction balloon which is the star of the whole experience. Whenever you knock out an enemy or see equipment that you want you can attach a balloon to it and have it extracted back to your base. This might sound ludicrous and superfluous and you’d only be half right.
The fulton system ties directly into a complex and interesting base management system where you’re recruiting soldiers and building up your Diamond Dog army for perks and enhance gear. Which ties into a base building system that allows you to recruit more soldiers and allows more unlockable abilities. Which ties into a combat management simulator that has you sending soldiers out to recruit more soldiers and retrieve supplies to upgrade your base more. It’s a really cohesive experience. Almost everything you do feels important and there are a multitude of different things to work on that can all be happening at the same time. I was consistently out in the world doing side ops, developing gear, upgrading my base, and sending soldiers out for retrieval missions.
The only game mode that I have problems with is the FOB missions. This involves attacking other player bases and stealing their soldiers and materials. On the surface this is an interesting idea but it’s rife with microtransaction boosters that destroy the experience. Perhaps at one point this was a satisfying experience but trying to play now is pointless unless you’re willing to spend actual money or just be beaten to a pulp by people that have already done so. The kicker is that it will effect your single player game even if you don’t participate in the FOB stuff. At best it’s a missed opportunity and at worst it’s a sleazy way to penalize players unwilling to spend more money on the game they already purchased. Dipping into it now would be an uphill battle that would take unprecedented amounts of patience to endure.
But, in the end, it’s one portion of a wonderfully imaginative experience. Metal Gear Solid V is truly one of a kind. This is a game to come back to for years to come. It is versatile and complex. Without the microtransaction laden FOB mode this would be nearly flawless. I don’t hesitate to say it is one of the best games I’ve ever played with gameplay that is unrivaled and a challenging storyline. I don’t expect much to come out this generation of the quality and breadth that is on offer here.
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